Luke Veenhuis, a research assistant and software engineer at the Thayer School of Engineering, died this weekend at home in Wisconsin over the weekend, College President Phil Hanlon wrote in an email on Thursday.
Veenhuis’ cause of death is currently unknown, according to a message from Dean of Thayer School Alexis Abramson that was attached to Hanlon’s email. He was 30 years old.
Veenhuis obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer science from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and worked as a research assistant in engineering professor Eugene Santos’ lab since 2020. In his work, Veenhuis oversaw the deployment of a National Institutes of Health funded artificial intelligence project, which included databases of “clinical and genomic information that helps guide doctors to more effective treatments,” according to the email.
“Luke was thoughtful, dedicated, hardworking and widely respected by his teammates,” Abramson wrote. “He will be greatly missed by his colleagues and our graduate and undergraduate students who worked closely with him.”
The announcement of Veenhuis’ death comes two days after the College set a Day of Caring for Oct. 21, during which all classes will be canceled to “create space to process the grief of our community losses, time for reflection and an opportunity to prioritize our mental health and well-being.” Veenhuis’ death is the seventh loss of a Dartmouth community member in two months and the third announced by the College within the last eight days.
This article will be updated as more details become available, and a full obituary will be published in the near future. If you would like to share a memory, please contact editor@thedartmouth.com.
